


Fork in the Road

by idontevenknow (idontevenknowugh)



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Choose Your Own Adventure, Death, Explosions, Gen, Horror, Incomplete, Injury, Loss, Panic Attack, Reader-Insert, Tags will be updated, Underfell, greif, unedited
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-01
Updated: 2016-10-18
Packaged: 2018-08-18 21:38:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 7,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8176940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idontevenknowugh/pseuds/idontevenknow
Summary: You wake up, your whole body aching, to the sound of water. What will you do next?This fic is unfinished and will not be continuing, sorry.





	1. Stranger

**Author's Note:**

> *waves nervously* Soooo....this is a thing I'm gonna do. Haha. A few things to know: 
> 
> 1\. Chapters will be short. I'm hoping for 500 - 1000 each. So that I can stop and let you guys choose.  
> 2\. However, I plan to update every 1-2 days, depending on how long the chapter gets and how much time I have.  
> 3\. I have never done reader insert or choose your own adventure and I normally don't update this fast. There might be some failures on my part because this is going to be a learning experience. Please be patient with me. <3  
> 4\. There's a link to a strawpoll in the end notes, so please vote there. Also, if you drop your reasoning in the comments and I see a trend, I'll start adjusting the anon's personality to fit it. ^_^  
> 5\. Enjoy!

Consciousness returns to you slowly. First you feel the hard, gritty dirt under you, a few larger sharp pebbles jabbing into your stomach uncomfortably. Next is the roaring of water, probably a waterfall, with a slight murmuring hidden within it, a brook maybe. Finally, you crack open your eyes to a lot of blurry blues and purples. You shift and the muscles of your arms ache. After you stretch them with a groan, you rub your eyes in an attempt to make your vision suck less. 

“Shhhh, it’s awake!” someone ‘whispers’ loudly, far louder than the noise you hadn't even identified as words before. Freezing, you blink rapidly and your vision sharpens to see a dark, wet cavern. unsure of where, exactly you are and who with you tense.

Your neck is stiff, but you ignore the pain and look around the cavern you’re in. There are two figures a little ways off from you. One is hunched, but wide, with leathery skin, a scraggly beard and...is that a turtle shell? The other is, somehow, stranger. It’s bulbous, tapering at the top, with just a single leg. It has a face, a very angry face. 

“Wha? Where am I?” You ask, trying to get into a position where you can get up and run if they turn out to be dangerous. 

“Huh? You can’t tell??” came the same voice, “Maybe it’s damaged?”

The other form didn’t answer. Slowly you get to your feet, keeping your recovering vision on the forms. The last thing you remembered was...was…blackness. There’s nothing there. Panic fills you as the realization that you remember nothing before you woke here sweeps through you. You feel short of breath and, while you know that you keep taking deep breathes, none of it seems to make it to your lungs. 

“What’s it doing?” the panicked tone of the talking traffic cone wasn't helping.

“Shush,” the other form finally spoke and moved slowly towards you. “It's alright. We aren't going to hurt you.”

While that was not the reason for your panic attack in the first place, your failing brain latches onto the words as well as the creature’s advancement and begins to freak out about that instead. Oh god, oh god, you look around desperately for something, anything, to use as a weapon to defend yourself. 

“Please, calm down. My name is Gerson, what’s yours?”

You pause at the question, searching your mind for the answer, but encounter the same darkness. Your brow furrows it doesn't quite feel like- 

“Who cares!?” The other form hops forward, renewing your fear. “We gotta get moving!”

Gerson, he’s a giant talking turtle you realize, considers you and the moment of stillness helps you calm down. You stare back, hopeful that they will go on their way and leave you be.

“You had best come with us,” he says instead and your heart sinks. They’re going to take you prisoner. He looks somewhat elderly, maybe you can overpower him, even without a weapon. But what about the other one? That one is something along the lines of a walking talking scarecrow or a dress form or one of those things from movies about knights. You aren't really sure. Would it be easy to overcome? Normally you would say yes, being an inanimate object and all, but this one is actually incredibly animated. It even has a, very ridiculous looking, face. 

However, when Gerson offers you a hand up you numbly take it and he pulls you to standing. There's no rush to restrain you, no blades at your throat. For that matter the immediately turns from you. Even with the shell on it’s back, it feels like a display of trust, and you relax somewhat. It could still be a trick, though. 

“Alright, let's go,” Gerson starts walking, but he hardly gets five feet before the other one is yelling again. 

“Where are you going, old man?!? That’s the wrong way!”

Gerson pauses and turns. “What do you mean? The explosion was this way.” Explosion? Could that explain why your brain doesn't seem to be working quite right? 

“Exactly. We gotta get away!” The...thing...exclaims and bounces a few feet the other way. 

“There are surely monsters,” did he just say monsters? “in need of help. We should-”

“Nope, no way. Besides, what do you think I’m going to do without arms? I’m headed to Snowdin until someone assures me that the core isn't about to go up and take us all with it.”

“Well, I can't force you, or you, stranger,” the turtle monster, you suppose, turned to you with a look of concern. “If you have been injured, it is probably best you join Dummy and go to Snowdin.” 

“Why do I have to babysit-”

“Can you not do this one thing?” The question is soft, but somehow rings in you ears like it had been shouted. The other, Dummy, stops talking immediately and slumps. The sections of his body seem to be disconnected, to your horror. 

“Alright.” He says, clearly displeased. “Come on.” He turns and slowly bounces into the cavern

“Good luck, stranger,” Gerson says warmly before turning and waking the other direction. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [What do you do?](http://www.strawpoll.me/11340520)  
>  Follow Gerson.  
> Follow Dummy.


	2. Shark Lady

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In a vote of 11 to 3 you are following Gerson. 
> 
> Also a note: moving away from the obvious action will not end the story, just change how you experience it. ^_^

With only a glance the other direction you start to follow the giant turtle. Your steps are slow and hesitant as you try and take in the scenery around you.

The cave that you’re in seems to stretch a good long while, a strange twisting path that you aren’t sure you could find your way back from. You can only hope that you made the right decision. As you go, you have to wonder if everything looks so strange to you because it’s strange or because you seem to have lost large sections of your memory. Either way, there’s a lot for you to look at, from the plants that bloom in the water and you walk across to the horse merman...thing. Gerson stops to talk to him and then he takes off the same direction as you, but faster. In contrast, after talking to a very strange mermaid, you think, she starts towards you, but shyly skirts you before continuing on the way you came.

There are several other such encounters, including one with what appears to be a giant sentient Jello. As it wiggles past you can’t help but try to smell it, feeling somewhat foolish for expecting it to smell like lime, but you don’t get anything over the dampness of the cavern. So you continue on through tunnels and over bridges and past flowers that talk, which almost scares you right out of your skin the first time one does. As you encounter more you realize that they must be repeating back what they’ve heard and that’s a little less freaky than sentient flowers, but just barely.

You aren't sure that Gerson even knows you're there until you notice that no matter how much you slow down to take in some new oddity, you don't lose him. He doesn't slow down enough for you to catch up, but he's always in sight. There’s a gentle kind of urgency in it and you remember his words. There are people- monsters in trouble and he wants to help them.

Is that why you’re trailing after him? You aren’t quite sure as you encounter more of that terrifying blankness in your mind. Still, this is what you felt was the right thing to do and whatever your reasons, you might as well. Your steps get quicker with your resolve and soon enough you catch up to Gerson. He nods at you and keeps walking, concern clear in his face.

You only stop once more and it’s at a gap in the cave walls, or that’s what you thought. Across a huge stretch of blackness, probably a giant pit, is a castle, with a city sprawling beneath it. It catches your eye and you stop and stare, but something isn’t making sense to you, so you look up, only to find that even this expansive area is domed by rock. The caves you had just been in were inside another massive cavern. Your breath starts to get short again, but suddenly Gerson speaks up.

“There’s so much smoke…” he says quietly, fear filling his voice. That’s when you realized what looked to the world to you like fog isn’t. It’s smoke and it’s coming from an area to your right, the disaster you’re heading towards. That is a lot of smoke.

Gerson starts moving and a moment later you follow. It’s too late now, even if you wanted to go back, which you’re not really sure you do. The term monsters produces hazy images, like photographs that weren’t developed properly, the shadows have grown and are eating into the image. Nonetheless, what you can see, bloody fangs and sharp claws tells your brain to fear them. Monsters are threats. However, every creature that you’ve seen along this walk has been completely unconcerned with you, let alone threatening. Dummy was probably the worst of the lot and that was just a rough attitude. Helping them seems like the right thing to do.

It’s only a little further through the caves and then a dry, hot wind hits you like slap. It makes you pause, but as the turtle monster forges forward so do you. The smoke has gotten even thicker, and you can hear shoulding up ahead.

“Watch your step,” Gerson cautions, and you can see why as you step onto the first bridge. Below you is lava, hot and bubbling, and you have one more moment of panic. Hopefully the last one because it’s getting tiring. Seriously, you have to wonder, who builds anything on top of pits of lava?

Slowly, fighting the urge to run back to the cool comfort of the caves, you inch across and follow Gerson into the smoke. Figures you can’t really see rush past you as you walk forward and for all your intentions you just feel like you’re in the way.

“Gerson, get your ass back to Waterfall or so help me,” a loud, angry sounding, voice startles you. Curiosity wins out and you move forward faster until you’re close enough to see through the smoke. A blue monster with long red hair and fins is glaring down at Gerson with her one eye, the other covered by a patch. She’s in a tank top and jeans, soot and dust smeared across most of her clothing and her face. She suddenly looks away, pausing her yelling to give a bug in armor directions. So this is the monster in charge.

“You need all the help you can get!” Gerson demands and he takes her distraction as an opportunity to move forward. Unwilling to lose sight of the only person you even kind of know, you try and catch up, hoping that the angry fish won’t notice you. There’s a lot of rubble in front of you, and you look up to see that the entire front wall of a building has come down, the smoke pouring out from said building.

“Just dump the rubble in the lava, we have to hurry- Hey wait!” She just about roars after him, and you flinch away from her. There are the fangs you associate with monsters. Is she some kind of shark? “You moron, you aren’t suited to Hotland-”

“And you are?” Gerson retorts, not the least bit scared of her as he takes hold of some rubble and moves it aside with surprising ease given that you were under the impression that he was really quite old.

“I’m fine! A little heat can’t defeat me!” She yells and puffs up with confidence. “An old man like you shouldn’t take the chance. Get the fuck out of here!” Gerson ignores her, but she seems unwilling to actually physically stop him. So, instead, she rounds on you as you try and shift a piece of rubble about the size of your head. It’s not going well, and when that glaring eye turns on you, you drop it with a small yelp.

“Why the hell did you let him come here?” She demands, like you would have any say over where the turtle went. There’s a pause as you try and figure out what might be the right answer, but she doesn’t wait long.

“Who are you, anyways?” Her eye narrows. “I don’t know you. So help me if you’re a hunter,” and your mind flashes to equally as obscured images of monster hunters, which you most definitely are not. You open your mouth to say as much, but then the world turns over and you’re staring at the ceiling. The room has gone completely silent and you have to admire the way the light from the lava dances across the ceiling of the cave, like red waves.

Your hearing comes back suddenly and it’s a cacophony. You latch onto Gerson’s voice as he bellows, “UNDYNE, NO! SOMEONE STOP HER!”

You stand, your whole body hurting all over again, to see that Gerson has been pinned by some rubble, but he he is gesturing wildly at the building, which has even more smoke pouring out of it now. You hobble over to him and grab a piece of rubble only to have him grab you and shove you away.

“You have to go get Undyne. It’s not safe in there.” At that you give him a look and he has the decency to look ashamed. “I don’t have any other options. She’s like a daughter to me.” He says and it’s strained, like he might actually cry. You look into the building, wondering how you would even find the shark lady. Besides, if you leave Gerson he would be in danger. On the other hand, you’re in very rough shape right now. Everything hurts so bad that it seems impossible that you haven’t broken something. Your mind races, trying to make a decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [What do you do?](http://www.strawpoll.me/11350121)  
>  Free Gerson.  
> Go after Undyne.  
> Get away from the building.


	3. Booming Voice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With a vote of 6 to 3 to 0 you’re going after Undyne. Good luck. 
> 
> Thank you to everyone voting on these chapters. I’ve had fun with these so far and I hope you’re enjoying them as well. ^_^

With one last look at Gerson, he gives you a nod, you start to climb over the rubble and into the building. More rubble had fallen from that last blast and pulling yourself up and over each piece makes your muscles ache. As you reach the top of the pile it doesn’t get any better. A large piece of wall shifts under your foot about halfway down and you slide the rest of the way. 

Hissing, you feel a sharp pain along your side and twist to look. Something had scraped a long streak in your skin. It’s not deep, but it burns with every movement. Of course, even if you wanted to go back and get medical care, it’s too late for that. The climb was almost too much the first time. 

As you stand and brush the dust off your clothing you have to wonder how you’re going to find the shark lady. The smoke is even thicker inside and you don’t know the next thing about this building, let alone where she might have gone. You want to curse your impulsiveness, but you’re not sure if that’s actually a trait you have or some unfortunate byproduct of the amnesia. Shifting blackness fills your mind when you try to delve deeper into the problem. 

That’s getting you nowhere, so you lift the top edge of your shirt and hold it over your nose and mouth and move forward cautiously. It feels unbearably hot in the building, but you’re not sure if that means there’s a fire or if it’s from being surrounded by lava. Either way you end up wiping the sweat out of your eyes before you’ve made it all that far. The floor keeps creaking under you and the image of it crumbling and sending you to a grave of lava keeps you from standing in one place too long. 

After maybe 15 minutes of stumbling around and weakly calling out “Hello!” and “Fish Lady” because you’re not sure you heard her name right, something trips you. You stumble forward a bit, stepping onto something that snaps to the floor under your weight with a sharp metallic clang. Gently you kneel down and look at it. It’s a heavy metal door, bowed into a concave shape. Was that from the blast. Angling yourself towards where you think it would have come from you creep forward. 

You find a doorway, something to the right of it is sparking and there’s the groan of machinery that’s stuck. You drop your shirt briefly to call out. 

“H-Hello!” You go as loud as you can as you yell down the stairs before replacing the fabric. Your voice echoes around a bit before fading away. Despite the smoke pouring out of the stairwell and the fact that this basement must be closer to the lavan than the rest of the lab you feel a cold wind coming up from it. It feels nice against your skin. There’s a scuffling noise to your right, past the sparking machinery, and the sound of metal groaning. 

Oh fuck what is that? There’s no way you want to run into whatever that is. You fall back into the wall as a huge dark shape looms in the smoke, keeping one hand on it for stability as you back away as quickly as you can. Instinct, you suppose, insists that you shouldn’t lose sight of the threat in front of you. 

“Doctor Alphys!” A booming voice calls out and you freeze. In response there’s a shout from below, soft as though it’s far away. “I am coming!” The form moves forward and you seem to have forgotten to move back. Out of the smoke comes a huge furry monster with horns. His hair is black, which your overactive mind points out is at odds with his white fur. He doesn’t seem bothered by the heat at all despite his heavy coat. Red eyes sweep over the scene. He spots you and turns. 

“Who are you? Did you do this?” He growls. You hurry to shake your head, your voice failing you. As he steps forward and it shakes the ground you scramble to force words out. 

“G-G-G-Gerson!” You manage to stammer out and he stops. Taking a deep breath to calm yourself you forgot about the smoke and end up coughing franticly for a minute, trying to clear your lungs. The monster doesn’t seem to care and starts to examine the doorway. You watch him with watery eyes as he tests the side of the doorway with one giant clawed hand- paw- hoof? He looks like a goat anyways, but those definitely look like claws. One is about the size of your head. He looks back as you stop coughing and you realize he still expects you to answer him. 

“Gerson, he sent, well, he asked me to come find...U-Untine?” He gives you a searching look before turning back to the doorway. 

“Gerson judgest monsters better than most.” He muses, “I’m glad he stayed away. Now to-”

Guilt tugs at you, “He, uh, he’s trapped at the other side of the building,” Furious red eyes glare at you suddenly. “He insisted!” You cry out and fall back a few steps. “A-and there were lots of other people there!” 

You don’t feel like you’ve been forgiven, but the monster’s attention is once again on the door. “We don’t have time for this. I’ve got to go get them.” He snarls and starts to press outward on the door frame. You look up at the ceiling with a sense of dread. It feels extremely unwise to damage the already half destroyed structure. 

“Don’t!” You cry out and this time he doesn’t even bother to glare at you, just a slight twitch of the ear. Y-you won’t fit!” You add, hoping to salvage this situation so that he won’t kill you for your outburst or by collapsing the building on your head. 

“I’ll go. If-if you do that you might bury us all, including them.” You gesture at the doorway. 

He stops, thankfully, but then turns to face you fully. You cower in a manner that feels entirely appropriate. 

“Two of my top monsters are down there,” He sounds calm in that dangerous way that dangerous people do. “I don’t know who you are, but even if you’re here to help you can barely stand. Get out,” He points at the way he came in, smoke pours that direction through what must be an exit, “and let me handle this.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [What do you do?](http://www.strawpoll.me/11356060)  
>  Listen to the monster and leave.  
> Convince the monster to let you go help them.  
> Stop wasting time, make a break down the stairs.


	4. Yellow Dinosaur

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In a vote of 7 to 5 you are going to try to convince him.

Trembling, you attempt to straighten, giving yourself an internal pep talk as you do. You have to convince him. If you don't, then everyone could die. 

“I’m not going to hurt them,” you say, voice wavering but you didn't stumble over any words, so you’ll call that a win. “I want to-”

“I know what you are,” the monster huffs at you, voice full of disgust. “Humans live to hurt things.”

You have no idea what to say to that. Even without your memories there's a feeling inside of you that tells you he isn't really wrong. At the moment, however, you honestly just want to help. It doesn't even make sense to you that you’ve come to this point for, essentially, perfect strangers, so for him to doubt you now upsets you.

“Guess that makes me a pretty shit human,” you intone at him and he blinks at you before snorting. He opens his mouth to reply when a scream sounds from below. His head whips around and you can see his shoulders draw up, tense. Walking over to the door, and him, you hope works well enough as a sign of good faith. When he notices you, which you’re sure he does, he doesn’t stop you and you head down into the cold air of the basement. 

Your shirt is only doing so much good at this point and the smoke makes it incredibly hard to see, but once you’re out of the stairwell it clears up some and you find a plain hallway with only one way to go, so you follow it. Before long, however, you end up at a fork in the road. You can only assume that the elevator isn’t working so you ignore it and call out. 

“Hello!” Your voice is muffled by the fabric of your shirt, but you don’t want to drop it, sure that you’ve already inhaled too much smoke. There’s silence and then a shout from the right, so you make your way down that hallway. It’s longer and turns before opening into a room full of beds. Oh shit. How many people are down here? You aren’t in any shape to help more than one person to the stairs. Too late now, you supposed. 

“Where are you?” You call out again, trying to decide between a hall and a doorway. The shout comes faster this time and you can make out words now. 

“Over here!” You’re pretty sure that it’s the shark lady’s voice. That’s good, at least. She’s the one you were sent in for in the first place. If you can at least help her then you’ll be glad. 

Limping through the doorway you find that you’re having trouble breathing. It’s not just the smoke, either. There’s a pressure in here that makes your head swim and your lungs struggle. Staggering forward in the direction of the voices you eventually come across two forms, one holding the other up, but barely. The shark monster has the arm of an unconscious yellow dinosaur over her shoulders and it trying to struggle towards the door. 

Above them looms a giant object obscured by the smoke, and you stumble back a bit as you catch sight of it. What the fuck is that? Is that what caused this? It’s a head, that much you’re sure of, but you can’t catch sight of the rest of it. Your vision swims and it seems to turn towards you and panic grips your heart. You have to get out of here, now. Get out. Get out. Get out. 

“Wh-what’re you…?” It’s clear that whatever is going on has left the blue monster weak, and you move forward as fast as you can to take the dinosaur’s other arm and pull them along with you. You have to get out of here. You have to get them out of here. For a moment the shark lady seems to want to resist, but as her load lessens she goes back to walking towards the exit. 

The walk out of the hallway seems to take forever, and you keep looking over your shoulder, the feeling of being watched crawling along your back whenever you aren’t watching for the skull, but you have to keep moving. Once you’ve gotten through the doorway the pressure lets up and you gasp with the force of air entering your lungs. The shark lady collapses and you stagger under the weight of the arm across your shoulder. Slowly you sink to the ground, taking the unconscious monster with you. 

“G-g-get out of here,” the shark lady manages to gasp out between breaths. She doesn't seem to be breathing all that much better like you are, and you panic more. She can't outrun the monster in there. What are you going to do? 

“Take,” gasp, “Alphys,” pant, “and go.” She says. Oh, oh fuck, she wants you to drag the other monster out and leave her. The whole reason you came in here in the first place was to help her. Should you really leave her with that...thing?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [What do you do?](http://www.strawpoll.me/11362547)  
>  Take Alphys out like she wants.  
> Try to get them both out.


	5. Tar-Like Substance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In a vote of 9 to 1 you are going to try and get them both out.

There’s no way you can just leave her. Looking around you spot the beds. Moving as quickly as you can you grab the blanket and sheet off of one. Shoving the sheet into the fish monster's arms you hope she’s as strong as she looks. 

“Quick, tear that into four strips.”

“You need to-”

“Just do it! I can’t move your friend like this anyways.” She gives you a funny look as you start to shift the unconscious monster onto the blanket, but then you hear tearing noises and before long you have four strips of fabric. You secure one around your own nose and mouth and one around Alphys’s. The shark lady, you really need to get her name down after this, gets the idea and secures her own, making sure it covers her gills. Once you’re all ready she holds up the last one, confused. 

“Give me one end, so we stay together.” Realization dawns and she offers you the end of the fabric. Gripping it along with the blanket you begin to move towards the door. 

There’s a sound like screeching metal being ripped apart back in the room with the huge monster. Fear pierces your heart like a knife, making it race. You feel a burning sensation in your chest, but ignore it to keep moving, slow as the progress may be. Shark lady stumbled along next to you, legs shaking and eyes lidded. She doesn’t seem to hear it, or if she did she doesn’t have the energy to react. She’s in really bad shape and the longer any of you stay in this smoke the worse off you’ll be. 

You take a few steps backwards, pull, take a few steps, pull, take a few steps, pull, take a few steps, the blanket doesn’t move. You pull harder, hoping to unsnag it but it doesn’t give. Frustrated you move to the bottom to find that there’s some tar-like substance seeping up around the tiles of the floor. It’s not so much sticking to the blanket as holding on to it, which liquids are not supposed to do. If you try to move the blanket up and away from the liquid it goes taut, like a string. What the hell is this? 

“Do you have anything to cut with?” You call at Shark Lady. She pulls down the makeshift bandana, grinning at you weakly, and you’re afraid she’s going to offer her, admittedly very sharp, teeth. Instead she hold out her hand and a glowing blue spear appears. You wonder how much weirder this is going to get. 

She holds it out to you, but you aren’t so sure that you should touch it, so you move and gesture to the black substance instead. Frowning, she glares at it before looking back at you with confusion clear on her face. When you go to gesture at the strange stuff, it’s gone. What? How can it-? Shark Lady makes the spear disappear and tugs on your connection. Worry that you’ve inhaled enough smoke to impair brain function or some such, you rush back to the blanket and begin to pull, desperate to get out of here. 

You haven’t gone more than a foot when the hallways fills with something that sounds like screaming. It hurts, it’s so shrill and piercing. There's a sharp pain in your ears and it feels like there’s some kind of pressure build up in your skull. Stumbling back a few steps you drag Alphys with you before tipping over and falling on your ass. 

“Unyne! Doctor Alphys!” The booming voice from upstairs calls. 

“Asgore!” Shark Lady, Undyne, calls weakly. Then the building is shaking and you know that he’s forcing his way in. It’s not entirely unwelcome this time, the idea that he might collapse the structure and bury you. Anything it if it will stop that noise. You feel the fabric you’re holding move towards the stairway as Undyne walks slowly forward. It tightens and you have to either let go of it or release one hand from the blanket. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [What do you do?](http://www.strawpoll.me/11368476)  
>  Keep hold of Undyne.  
> Keep both hands on the blanket.


	6. There's no such thing as luck

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Close vote this time. 6 to 5 you’re keeping both hands on the blanket. 
> 
> I’m sick, and I hope this didn’t suffer too much for it. Let’s hope I’m more with it for tomorrow’s chapter.

You let the torn piece of sheet slip from your fingers. After all, the stairwell is right there. Gripping the blanket firmly, you pull with what little strength you have left. Alphys inches forward, and you think, just maybe, you’re going to get out of here. The building shakes again, making you stumble. Part of you wants to curse the big furry monster upstairs, but your voice won't care over this damn screeching. Besides, all of your breath is going towards moving the unconscious monster those few last feet. 

You get so caught up in it that you don't even notice you’ve made it to the stairs until the bottom one hits your leg and you fall into a seated position with an oof. Undyne is already upstairs and you can hear her talking with booming voice. You push your muscles to stand, but they ache in protest and you only get a few inches off the stair before you sit back down with a huff. Your arms and legs are shaking and it occurs to you that these are stairs. Pulling Alphys up the stairs is going to be much harder. 

There’s a cracking noise behind you and you turn, but can't see anything through the smoke. Still, you can make a good guess. Just as you’re about to yell at him to stop there’s a much louder crack from the room at the bottom of the stairs and you look to see a huge split in the ceiling. It won't hold. 

Adrenaline giving its last, you surge to your feet and take the dinosaur under the armpits. Pulling with everything you have you make it up one step. 

Two steps.

Three steps. 

Four steps.

Five steps. Your vision is swimming and you can't get enough air, but if you stop you'll both die. 

Six steps. You miss the edge of the step and fall, both you and the monster sliding down two stairs. You’re stuck. The unconscious monster is on your legs and you’re too weak to get them out. Tears prick your eyes as you let your head flop back in resignation. You tried. 

Then there's a form above you, huge and fur covered. He shifts you up the stairs and out of the way before he reaches out to gram Alphys. Your crying switches to tears of relief when the ceiling of the stairwell goes, chunks of concrete falling in a flurry of dust and you’re suddenly sure that this is it. You had that brief moment of hope, the universe’s last fuck you, and now you’re going to die. 

When the dust clears you see a pile of rubble in front of you, but you seem to be alright, or at least not any worse off than a minute ago. Amazement fills you as you check arms and legs, but other other than a few scratches, nothing’s wrong. You’re about to laugh, you’re so overwhelmed by your survival, but a bit of color catches your eye on the edge of the rubble pile. Yellow scales. You feel your stomach tighten and fight back the urge to be sick as the fingers slowly disintegrate. What the-

Booming voice grabs you and starts carrying you out. It's all you can do to stay conscious, so you go willingly enough. 

As soon as he steps out of the building there’s yelling, but all you can do pull as much clean air into your lungs as they’ll take. He deposits you on the ground unceremoniously and ignores you to grab hold of Shark Lady as she tries to make a break for the building. You can tell that she's shaking. 

The next time you become aware of anything going on she’s walking around yelling and crying. Absently you notice that the screeching is gone. You roll over, ready to try and get to your feet when something hits you in the side and you’re dropping. Gasping in pain you see her, eye full of fury and pain, standing over you. 

“Why?” She cries. “Why you and not her?” Booming voice grabs her and pulls her away. You can hear sobbing. 

“They were lucky, that’s all there was to it.” He looks back at you, red eyes thoughtful. “As hard as it may be to believe, I saw them. They tried to carry her up.” 

He walks her away, passing her off to a couple of monsters wearing black armor, before he comes back to you where you lay. Getting up, so attainable a moment ago, is beyond you now. He crouches down next to you. 

“Well, human, you proved me wrong,” he says, low and dangerous. “For your attempts to help, and because after this I simply do not have the resources to deal with you, you are safe from me. For now, anyways. I will have someone escort you around to the other side of the lab.” He stands back up to full height and gestures to someone. 

“Oh, and I wouldn’t stay with Gerson,” he muses down at you, “If you see Undyne again, she will kill you.” 

“It-it’s not my fault.” You say hoarsely, and speaking hurts so badly. “I just wanted to-”

“It doesn’t matter. She blames you and there’s nothing you can do about that.” He shrugs and the gesture looks heavy and sad. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [What do you do?](http://www.strawpoll.me/11378389)  
>  Demand the chance to talk to Undyne.   
> Leave as requested.


	7. Caped Figure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In a vote of 5 to 3 you are leaving as requested. 
> 
> Sorry I missed yesterday, I was sick. Still am, but I wanted to write anyways.

A strange monster made of rope, you think, is pulled aside to guide you away from the scene. It’s a long, complicated path up one elevator, across rooms with lasers and weird vents that throw you across lava, and then down another elevator. You have to wonder how anyone gets anywhere in this place. By the end you’re in more pain than you started, something that didn’t seem possible to you. 

Thankfully after you go down the second elevator you end up where you left Gerson. He’s injured, but alright. Some of the other monsters dug him out. You’re relieved to see him, but when he asks you what happened in there you find it difficult to speak. He told you that Undyne was like a daughter to him and now she hates you and another monster is dead. You don’t know how to explain that so you just tell him that Undyne is alive on the other side and walk away. He looks like he wants to ask you questions, but doesn’t. 

The rope monsters leads you down to a river where a strange looking boat waits, a caped figure at the front. The whole scene feels familiar to you, but you aren’t sure why. It’s just another thing that’s buried in your mind where you can’t find it. It chills you, though. The rope monster asks him to take you to Snowdin, whatever that is, and then waits expectantly for you to get on board. You do, and you pretend like the monumental effort it takes to do is purely from pain, not fear. 

The ride is strange, to say the least. The monster on the boat doesn’t seem to propel or steer it in any way but instead spends the ride mumbling to itself. At one point it looks over it’s shoulder at you, but you can’t see anything under the hood, just an inky blackness that- 

Your skull feels like it’s splitting in two and you gasp, curling down into yourself as you draw up your arms to grip your head. The screeching is back, but it’s more like a high pitched whine now, sharp and piercing. You feel the boat slow to a stop and suddenly the feeling is gone. You look up, but figure is facing forward again.  _ Now where did you find that? _ You can remember the words in a voice you swear you’ve never heard. Shaking you stand and get out of the boat. As you turn, you realize that you have no money. 

“I’m sorry, I-” There’s no one there. Heart racing, you walk away from the river with your head half turned, unwilling to fully stop looking at the spot where the mysterious boat was. However, to your side you catch sight of evergreen branches. You forget your fear for a moment to look around and there’s a forest, the path you’re on opening up into a clearing with some houses. Are you outside now? The air is so crisp and cold compared to the suffocating warmth you were just surrounded by. You look up, though, and see rough rock. How is this even possible? There’s snow on the ground. 

You walk forward into the clearing. To your left there’s a huge wolf monster living blocks of ice like they’re nothing. To your right is a pleasant looking house and in front of you is another path that seems to open up again after a little ways. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [What do you do?](http://www.strawpoll.me/11390675)  
>  Knock on the door to the house.  
> Go ask the wolf for help.  
> Keep walking.


	8. Everywhere Hurts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In a vote of 6 to 5 to 3 you are going to ask the wolf for help.

You turn to the left and cautiously approach the large wolf. He’s a pretty strange sight. There’s a steady rhythm as he picks up a block of ice, crunches through the snow as he turns, and then throws it in the water with a splash. Then the ice just floats away and into a tunnel down the way. You wonder why, but not enough to ignore the amount of pain you’re in or the creeping cold of this new climate. 

“H-hello!” You call out and coughing overtakes you for a moment. You swear you can taste the ash from the fire coming up out of your lungs. The steady beat of his actions doesn’t stop or even slow as he turns to you. 

“Hello,” Splash. “Are you alright?” He glances over at you with a curious expression. 

“Y-well, no.” You need help, and despite his appearance, you need it now. Hopefully he’s more like Gerson. “I’m pretty badly injured. Is there a clinic or a doctor nearby?” 

He stops at that, but only to laugh. It's a deep, full body laugh and you are left feeling like he is mocking what seemed like a perfectly normal question to you. Did Booming Voice just send you out here to die? That would be a very resource efficient option. You gather your resolve, there's no way you’re giving up. Not after all that. 

“Excuse me,” you try and interrupt him. He cracks an eye and looks down at you and surprise comes over his features. He picks up the next ice block and tosses it in the water before answering. 

“You’re serious.” It's a statement, not a question, but you nod anyways. “Nope, no healer here.” 

When you don't leave while he keeps tossing the ice into the water, he glowers at you. You wonder if you should just keep wandering, but this monster is really your best chance to find some kind of shelter faster. 

“A hotel, then?” You ask when you see you have his attention again. 

“There’s an Inn,” he says with some hesitation. “It’s down that path,” he points before picking up the next ice block. “Take a right and you’ll see it eventually. You should know, we don't really like strangers around here.” 

You nod and turn to walk away, but after only a few steps you turn back. “Then why is there an inn?” The wolf looks confused by the question and after a moment you walk away. 

The path into town isn't long and before you know it you’re on what seems to be the main drag through a very small town. Heading right you pass some very odd characters standing outside what appears to be a bar. They watch as you go past, but, as the wolf warned you, they don't seem all that welcoming. You can only hope that, as a business, the Inn will accept you. 

You walk past a Christmas tree, which feels very strange to you. You could have sworn you went to the beach recently. Pausing you take another crack at your memories, but nothing is forthcoming. Sighing in frustration you keep walking. 

The Inn looks welcoming enough and you walk in, holding back a groan of appreciation as warmth returns to your limbs. The rabbit at the front desk somehow looks normal to you after Everything you’ve seen, but her look is still harsh and searching. You straighten, your aching muscles starting to protest now that the cold isn't numbing them. 

“Can I help you,” she asks, and her tone isn’t any nicer. 

“A room, please.” You walk up to the counter. 

“80 G,” she looks down at the book in front of her, pulling out a pen. You realize far too late that you forgot about money. What kind of currency is Gee, anyways? It doesn't sound the least bit familiar to you.

“I d-don't-” the rabbit cuts you off with a sigh. Instead of speaking she considers you for a moment. You aren't sure if you should look pathetic or respectable, but you quickly realize that respectable is beyond you. Your clothing is torn and dirty, your hair matted with something that you hope isn't blood, and your everywhere hurts. 

“Fine, you can stay and work for it tomorrow.” She says dismissively and gestures towards the stairs behind her. 

You smile at her and head towards the stairs, your mind occupied with thoughts of a bath and a soft bed. A few steps up you remember that you didn't thank her. When you turn it’s to see her whispering to a rabbit child that you hadn't seen before. The child is eyeing you with suspicion, and he runs off as soon as she’s done. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [What do you do?](http://www.strawpoll.me/11406671)  
>  Stay the night.  
> Sneak out the back.  
> Confront her.


	9. Abandoning Fic - Apologies

Hi guys,

My intent for this story was to tell a little bit per day over this month with the ending on Oct 31. Due to getting sick that is no longer a possibility. That, combined with fairly low readership on this fic has led me to decide to stop working on it and focus elsewhere. I'm very sorry to those who did read it and vote. I very much appreciate it! This format was an experiment and it didn't seem to really take. I would still like to tell this story at some point, but perhaps in a different manner. We'll see.

To anyone reading this, thank you for giving it a shot with me. ^_^


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